FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TOKYO SUBWAY - PAGE 5

On March 20, 1727, physicist, mathematician and astronomer Isaac Newton died in London. In 1816 the Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions. In 1896 American Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution. In 1922 Carl Reiner, the prolific film director, producer and comedian, was born in New York City. In 1956 France recognized the independence of Tunisia. In 1963 a volcano on the island of Bali in the East Indies erupted.

Tokyo subway officials have refused to allow a poster featuring a nude and pregnant Britney Spears, branding it "too stimulating" for young people. The picture of the pop tart--nude but covering her breasts with her arms and crossing her legs--appeared in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar and will be on the cover of the mag's Japanese edition in October. "We thought some of our customers would find it to be overly stimulating," a Tokyo Metro official said. But the Metro and the publishers did agree to display the poster partially masked with a statement reading: "We apologize for hiding part of a beautiful image of a mother-to-be."

On March 20, 1602, the Dutch East India Company was chartered to establish bases and fortifications against Spain and Portugal and protect Dutch trade in the Indian and Pacific oceans. In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris triumphantly and began his "Hundred Days" rule. In 1828 dramatist and poet Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien, Norway. In 1852 "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel about slavery, was published. In 1899 Martha Place of Brooklyn became the first woman to be put to death by electrocution.

The religious cult accused of organizing the poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway system two years ago had also planned to release nerve gas in the United States, according to new court testimony in Tokyo. The idea was planned to the point that the cult ordered one of its members to go to the U.S. to pick up a shipment of sarin nerve gas that would be concealed in a Japanese ornament and sent by sea mail, Dr. Ikuo Hayashi, the cult's former medical director, testified Friday. He said that the plan was dropped for reasons that remain unclear.

Flower-strewn altars at central Tokyo subway stations were grim reminders Wednesday of a nerve gas attack on the city one year ago that killed 11 people, sickened 5,500 and shook Japan's belief in itself as a safe society. At the stroke of 8 a.m., almost the exact time of the attack, passengers and subway officials at the six stations where a doomsday cult allegedly released the sarin gas bowed their heads in tribute to victims of the tragedy. "It is impossible for us to forget about our two colleagues who died last year trying to protect the passengers from the deadly gas," Tatsuhide Nojiri, a Teito Rapid Transit Authority official said.

The Clinton administration says Syria has a chemical weapons program and has armed missiles, warplanes and artillery shells containing sarin, the nerve gas. Indian businesses and possibly a retired Russian general assisted in developing the arsenal, a knowledgeable official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We do not believe the Russian government was involved," the official said. Sarin is a nerve gas that was used in a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway system in 1995, killing 12 people and injuring 3,000.

More than 11,000 mourners filled an arena Sunday for the funeral of a family believed to have been killed by the cult blamed for the nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway. A further 15,000 people lined nearby streets to pray and lay flowers for lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife, Satoko, and their 1-year-old son, Tatsuhiko. Sakamoto was waging a legal battle against the Aum Shinri Kyo, or Supreme Truth, cult when he and his family disappeared in 1989. He was acting on behalf of parents trying to wrest their children away from the cult and former cult members trying to regain assets they had donated.

On March 20, 1852, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel about slavery, was published. In 1896 American Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens amid revolution. In 1969 Beatles singer John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar. In 1979 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin vowed that Israel never would allow a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 1987 the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.

Army workers detonated a Cold War-era bomblet Sunday and began neutralizing the deadly sarin nerve gas it contained. The Army will detonate five more grapefruit-size sarin bomblets found during efforts to convert the former Rocky Mountain Arsenal to a wildlife refuge. "Everything went well. They're dousing it with neutralizer and that will take several hours, but once it is cracked open, the threat is basically over," project spokesman Omar Jabara said Sunday. The Army and state officials agreed detonating the bomblets in a steel chamber and neutralizing the gas with a caustic solution would safely prevent environmental contamination or health threats.